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SophoclesAjax
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Symbols & Motifs
Ajax’s Sword
Ajax assumes its audience is familiar with Trojan war mythology, incorporating allusions to items and events beyond the boundaries of the play itself. Ajax’s sword, which he falls on to end his life, is an important example of this. He notes that he received the sword from Hector, his “bitterest enemy” (63). This event is narrated in Homer’s Iliad, after Ajax fights Hector in one-on-one combat. The two warriors are so evenly matched that their contest is called a draw, and they exchange gifts. Hector receives Ajax’s belt, which becomes one of the vehicles by which Achilles later drags and defiles his corpse after Hector’s death. Ajax receives the sword that he uses to end his life. Another “enemy’s gift” will bring about the sack of Troy: the Trojan horse that the departing army leaves behind.
During his conciliatory speech at Lines 646-692, Ajax recites a proverb, “An enemy’s gift is no gift and brings no good” and claims that he will “bury this hateful weapon in a secluded place” (64). Shortly after, the place he buries the sword in is his own body. The sword symbolizes the destructive force of enemies that will manifest in any encounter with them. This may be why, at the end of the play, Teucer rejects Odysseus’s offer of help with Ajax’s funeral rites. If Ajax sees Odysseus as his enemy (as he does in the Odyssey’s Underworld scene), then to allow Odysseus to participate could pollute the sacred rituals and incur the wrath of Ajax, even in death.
Achilles’s Arms
Numerous mentions of “the arms of Achilles” are made in the play. Athena refers to them at Line 41 when she explains to Odysseus why Ajax killed the army’s herds (48). Agamemnon cites them at Line 1240 when he notes that the contest for them “[w]ill cost us dearly if a man like Teucer | can accuse us of fraud” (80). Odysseus mentions them in the same conversation, at Line 1338, when he admits that he thought of Ajax as an enemy after he won the arms from him.
The contest for the arms of the deceased Achilles, the best warrior whose armor was crafted by the god Hephaestus (according to the Iliad), is mentioned in commentaries of the Aethiopis, the lost Trojan war epic. The arms symbolize the importance of gifts and prizes: They represent a warrior’s skill and value. Denying or withdrawing such gifts and prizes is experienced by the warrior as a loss of not only honor and respect from his comrades but also his identity.
Hunting
Hunting is a recurring motif in the play, reflecting a characterization of warriors from epic: Similes routinely compare them to lions. Reflecting the play’s thematic concern with reversal of fortune, the hunter becomes the hunted at various points.
In the prologue, Athena describes Odysseus in hunting terms, noting that he is always “[d]evising ways to trap your enemies,” “[d]oggedly trailing | [h]is freshly laid tracks,” and calling him a “Spartan bloodhound” (47). In response, Odysseus admits that he has been “hunting” Ajax, “circling” and “[t]racking” his enemy (48). Ajax intended to trap and kill the Greek warriors, but Athena “was there to urge him on into the trap” that she had devised for him (49). Later in the play, when Ajax is preparing for his death, he tells his young son that “Teucer will stand as your guardian | When he returns from hunting the enemy” (62). After hearing the prophecy of Calchas, Tecmessa sends the Chorus to search for Ajax, but their hunt yields “[n]o information” until Tecmessa delivers the news.
Ajax’s shield
In the Iliad, Ajax is known for his large shield that he uses to protect not only himself but his comrades and brother. In the play, Ajax gives his shield to Eurysaces, though he asks for the rest of his armor to be buried with him. In the final section of the play, Teucer tells Eurysaces to assume the position of a suppliant, holding tightly onto his father’s body and not letting go. As a hero, Ajax in death has a talismanic force. His shield represents this protective power of the hero. It symbolizes both his protection of Eurysaces and his son’s inheritance of his father’s role.
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By Sophocles
